This application claims the priority of German Application No. 10157077.5 filed Nov. 21, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to an arrangement for open-end rotor spinning comprising a spinning rotor having a rotatable shaft supported radially in wedge-shaped gaps between two supporting disc pairs and axially in a step bearing housing in such a way that the shaft can be pulled out of the support from the operator's side of the arrangement and inserted again into the support.
An arrangement of this type is prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,869. The known arrangement functions together with a step bearing housing, which comprises a lubricant cartridge having a step bearing ball for the shaft. Between the rear supporting disc pair and the front face side of the step bearing housing, a gap is present which often fills up with fiber fly. Thus a closed fiber ring forms around the rotating shaft. When the spinning rotor is taken out of its bearing, the fiber ring collapses. When the spinning rotor is subsequently inserted into its bearing again, fibers may be pushed by the shaft into the step bearing housing. Collected trash in the inside of the step bearing housing can, in certain circumstances, cause it to come to a standstill.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent a breakdown of the step bearing caused by fibers being pushed therein.
This object has been achieved in accordance with the present invention in that a tube is provided having an entry opening on the operator's side of the arrangement, which tube reaches into the area of the step bearing housing and which is aligned against the shaft with an opening.
When, for example, a travelling aggregate in the form of a piecing arrangement is active at the respective spinning aggregate, a blower for example belonging to the travelling aggregate can be arranged at the entry opening of the tube which blower generates an air stream into the tube. As a result of the placing of the opening of the tube in the above mentioned gap, the fiber ring is blown away from the shaft so that when the spinning rotor is pulled out and inserted back in again into its bearing, no fibers are pushed into the step bearing housing.
It is known in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,957 that an open-end spinning aggregate is provided with diverse suction tubes which are aligned to various function elements and which, in addition to other functions, suction areas of the bearing. This publication, however, does not address the particular problems at the step bearing housing nor the solution to these problems.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description thereof when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.